Earth Sciences Commons^™

(Uranium-Thorium)/Helium Thermochronologic Constraints On Secondary Iron-Oxide Mineralization In Southwestern New Mexico, Michael Channer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Southwestern New Mexico experienced protracted volcanism from ~60 Ma to 500 ka and associated epithermal mineralization. We apply hematite (U-Th)/He (hematite He) thermochronology to fracture-hosted hematite in the Lordsburg Mining District to resolve the timing of mineralization related to hydrothermal fluid circulation. We interpret hematite He dates with integrated field and structural observations, scanning electron microscopy to characterize hematite texture and grain size distribution, and zircon U-Pb and zircon (U-Th)/He (zircon He) chronology to constrain the timing of host rock formation and the ambient low-temperature thermal history, respectively. Undeformed hematite fills fractures cut a brecciated rhyolite and preserve open voids. …

Magmatic Evolution Of Early Subduction Zones: Geochemical Modeling And Chemical Stratigraphy Of Boninite And Fore Arc Basalt From The Bonin Fore Arc, Emily A. Haugen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc stretches south from Japan to Guam in the Western Pacific. International Ocean Discovery Project Expedition 352 drilled four core in the fore arc of the Izu-Bonin arc east of the Bonin Islands: U1439C, U1440B, U1441A, and U1442A. From the four core, 124 samples were retrieved and analyzed for major and trace elements. Two main rock types were identified: FAB and boninite. FAB is a Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt (MORB)-like tholeiite with variable fluid mobile element enrichment such as Rb, Ba, and Sr, and low Ti/V ratios more similar to an island arc volcanic than a mid-ocean ridge volcanic. …

A Stochastic Model For Water-Vegetation Systems And The Effect Of Decreasing Precipitation On Semi-Arid Environments, Shannon A. Dixon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Current climate change trends are affecting the magnitude and recurrence of extreme weather events. In particular, several semi-arid regions around the planet are confronting more intense and prolonged lack of precipitation, slowly transforming these regions into deserts. Many mathematical models have been developed for purposes of analyzing vegetation-water interactions, particularly in semi-arid landscapes. Most models are based on the average behavior of the system as a whole, and how it is influenced by external changes. These models may be termed "macro-scale" models. Other models have concerned themselves with the interactions between individuals, in this case the interactions between individual plants …

Sclerocactus Wetlandicus: Habitat Characterization, Seed Germination And Mycorrhizal Analysis, Kourtney T. Harding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Uinta Basin hookless cactus (Sclerocactus wetlandicus) is a threatened species native to Eastern Utah. The cactus is found in a landscape highly disturbed by non-renewable energy production. To understand the environmental conditions that support natural growth of this cactus, we asked what types of plants were present in the same areas as the cactus, and if the types of plants were different in environments that were disturbed. From our assessment, we determined that the types of plants present in disturbed areas were drastically different from those present in undisturbed locations. Areas previously used for energy production are …

Hydrocarbon And Co2 Emissions From Oil And Gas Production Well Pad Soils Comparative To Background Soil Emissions In Eastern Utah, Cody S. Watkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

What effect does the development of oil and gas have on the observed air quality (i.e., increased ozone, carbon dioxide (CO₂), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and/or methane emissions) in northeastern Utah? What percentage of these gases is natural background emissions, and what percentage is due to the recent oil and gas development in the region? Emissions in this text refer to gases released from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere. Methane is the primary compound in natural gas. Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture. Emissions of methane, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), and CO₂ at 27 …

Effect Of Foliage And Root Carbon Quantity, Quality, And Fluxes On Soil Organic Carbon Stabilization In Montane Aspen And Conifer Stands In Utah, Antra Boča

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Soil organic carbon (SOC) positively affects many soil properties (e.g., fertility and water holding capacity), and the amount of carbon (C) in soil exceeds the amount in the atmosphere by about three times. Forest soils store as much C as is found in trees. Tree species differ in their effect on SOC pools. Quaking aspen forests in the Western US often store more stable SOC in the mineral soil than nearby conifers. During the last decades a decline in aspen cover, often followed by conifer encroachment, has been documented. A shift from aspen to conifer overstories may negatively affect the …

Spatio-Temporal History Of Fluid-Rock Interaction In The Hurricane Fault Zone, Jace Michael Koger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Hurricane Fault is a 250-km long, west dipping, active Basin and Range-bounding normal fault in southwest Utah and northwest Arizona. There are multiple known hot springs along its 250-km length and multiple late Tertiary-Quaternary basaltic centers that broadly parallel the fault. Possible sources of hot spring fluids include deeply circulated meteoric water that experienced water-rock exchange at high temperatures (>100 °C) and deep-seated crustal fluids. Abundant damage zone veins, cements, and host rock alteration are present along strike, indicative of past fluid flow. Carbonate veins and cements are key features of the Hurricane Fault zone, and the primary …

Sequence Stratigraphy, Chemostratigraphy, And Biostratigraphy Of Lower Ordovician Units In Northeastern And Western Central Utah: Regional Implications, Colter R. Davis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Lower to Middle Ordovician Garden City Formation and Pogonip Group are mixed carbonate and sandy marine rocks deposited on the western margin of ancestral North America. The Garden City Formation was deposited in the Northern Utah Basin and the Pogonip Group was deposited in the Ibex Basin. These two basins experienced different rates of subsidence that resulting in significant thickness differences between rock units and different rock types related to sea level change. This study provides a unique opportunity to examine changes in rock types, rock chemistry, and fossil types as sea level changed within two separate basins in …

Investigating Patterns Of Fluvial Form And Incision Near The Yellowstone Hotspot — Alpine Canyon Of The Snake River, Wyoming, Daphnee Tuzlak

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The shape of a landscape is created by rivers, which erode the underlying bedrock and carve through mountains. The Snake River flows across the uplifting hotspot plume of the Yellowstone region, cuts through the Snake River Range, and ultimately enters the low-lying eastern Snake River Plain. Although there is a good understanding of the track of the Yellowstone hotspot over geologic time and shorter timescales, measurements over Quaternary timescales and an understanding of how uplift influences the rivers and landscape in the Yellowstone region are absent. We study the Snake River and its past deposits where it cuts through Alpine …

Spatiotemporal Evolution Of Pleistocene And Late Oligocene-Early Miocene Deformation In The Mecca Hills, Southernmost San Andreas Fault Zone, Amy C. Moser

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Seismogenically active faults (those that produce earthquakes) are very complex systems that constantly change through time. When an earthquake occurs, the rocks surrounding a fault (the “fault rocks”) become altered or damaged. Studying these fault rocks directly can inform what processes operated in the fault and how the fault evolved in space and time. Examining these key aspects of faults helps us understand the earthquake hazards of active fault systems.

The Mecca Hills, southern California, consist of a set of hills adjacent to the southernmost San Andreas Fault. The topography is related to motion on the San Andreas fault, which …

Accelerated Increase In The Arctic Tropospheric Warming Events Surpassing Stratospheric Warming Events During Winter, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, Yen-Heng Lin, Ming-Ying Lee, Jin-Ho Yoon, Jonathan D.D. Meyer, Philip J. Rasch

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

In January 2016, a robust reversal of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) took place associated with a rapid tropospheric warming in the Arctic region; this was followed by the occurrence of a classic sudden stratospheric warming in March-April. The succession of these two distinct Arctic warming events provides a stimulating opportunity to examine their characteristics in terms of similarities and differences. Historical cases of these two types of Arctic warming were identified and validated based upon tropical linkages with the Madden-Julian Oscillation and El Niño as well as those documented in previous studies. Our results indicate a recent and accelerated increase …

Uwrl Students Sweep Awwa 2017 Scholarships, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

USU Civil Engineering and UWRL Students win scholarships from American Water Works Association. The scholarships support students studying water quality, supply, and treatment in the West. The scholarship is awarded to both graduate and undergraduate students, with USU taking them all this year.

Student, Mahyar Aboutalebi, Wins J. Paul Riley Awra Paper Competition, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

Mahyar Aboutalebi was selected as a winner and scholarship recipient in the J. Paul Riley AWRA Utah Section Student Paper Competition. The paper, Satellite-based Prediction of Internal Migratory Movement under the Lack of Sufficient water for the Entire U.S.” will go on to compete in the oral presentation contest during the 2017 Spring Runoff Conference.

2017 Spring Runoff Conference, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

The annual USU Spring Runoff Conference will be held on March 28 – March 29. Students, faculty, and professionals are invited to attend and participate in the presentations and poster sessions.

Determining Annual Cryosphere Storage Contributions To Stream Flow Using Historical Hydrometric Records, Janice Brahney, Brian Menounos, Xiaohua Wei, Paul Jefferson Curtis

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Alpine glaciers and perennial snow fields are important hydrologic elements in many mountain environments providing runoff during the late summer and during periods of drought. Because relatively long records of glacier mass–balance data are absent from many glacierized catchments, it remains unclear to what extent shrinking perennial snow and glaciers have affected runoff trends from these watersheds. Here, we employ a hydrograph separation technique that uses a double mass curve in an attempt to isolate changes in runoff due to glacier retreat and disappearance of perennial snow. The method is tested using hydrometric data from 20 glacierized and 16 nonglacierized …

Evidence For A Climate-Driven Hydrologic Regime Shift In The Canadian Columbia Basin, Janice Brahney, Frank Weber, Vanessa Foord, John Janmaat, Paul Jefferson Curtis

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Water resources from the Columbia River Basin are intensely used for domestic, agricultural, industrial and hydroelectric generation needs. Water availability in the Pacific Northwest is influenced by several ocean–atmosphere modes of climate variability that occur in the Pacific Ocean. Climate change has the potential to alter these relationships and influence both the volume and timing of streamflow in the snowmelt-dominated tributaries to the Columbia River. Here, the historical influences of climate variability and recent climate warming on the volume and timing of streamflow for 40 tributary streams in the Columbia River Basin of Canada were evaluated. Regional relationships were found …

Rapid Surface-Water Volume Estimations In Beaver Ponds, Daniel J. Karran, Cherie J. Westbrook, Joseph Michael Wheaton, Carol A. Johnston, Angela Bedard-Haughn

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Beaver ponds are surface-water features that are transient through space and time. Such qualities complicate the inclusion of beaver ponds in local and regional water balances, and in hydrological models, as reliable estimates of surface-water storage are difficult to acquire without time- and labour-intensive topographic surveys. A simpler approach to overcome this challenge is needed, given the abundance of the beaver ponds in North America, Eurasia, and southern South America. We investigated whether simple morphometric characteristics derived from readily available aerial imagery or quickly measured field attributes of beaver ponds can be used to approximate surface-water storage among the range …

Aggieair Researchers Unveil The Latest Uav Platform, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

The AggieAir research team unveiled the new BluJay line of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) during the GRAPEX conference. The new UAV, nicknamed Darkhorse, is outfitted with additional scientific sensors and beyond line of sight capacity. Darkhorse is capable of flying over 200 miles and remain airborne for over 3 hours on a single battery charge.

Uwrl Professor Provides Perspective To National Media On Threats To Oroville Dam Spillway, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

The UWRL’s Dr. Blake Tullis is a leading authority on spillway design. When extreme weather and resulting excessive water flows threatened the integrity of California’s Oroville Dam’s spillways this week, national media reporters from CNN, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal reached out to him to gain a clearer explanation of the situation.

Uwrl Researchers Develop Techniques To Identify Arsenic Contamination In Drinking Water, Utah Water Research Laboratory

News

Environmental engineer researchers at the UWRL have developed a new genetic tool in identifying the bacteria that releases contaminating arsenic in water supplies. Arsenic contaminates drinking water for millions of people worldwide and this microbial ecosystem research is the first step in understanding and reducing arsenic contamination in groundwater The team published their findings in the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal on February 1.

User Guide For Luminescence Sampling In Archaeological And Geological Context, Michelle C. Summa-Nelson, Harrison J. Gray, Jack A. Johnson, Tammy M. Rittenour, James K. Feathers, Shannon A. Mahan

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Luminescence dating provides a direct age estimate of the time of last exposure of quartz or feldspar minerals to light or heat and has been successfully applied to deposits, rock surfaces, and fired materials in a number of archaeological and geological settings. Sampling strategies are diverse and can be customized depending on local circumstances, although all sediment samples need to include a light-safe sample and material for dose-rate determination. The accuracy and precision of luminescence dating results are directly related to the type and quality of the material sampled and sample collection methods in the field. Selection of target material …

Empirical And Modeling Analyses Of The Circulation Influences On California Precipitation Deficits, Yen-Heng Lin, Lawrence E. Hipps, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, Jin-Ho Yoon

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Amplified and persistent ridges in western North America are recurring features associated with drought conditions in California. The recent drought event (2012–2016) lasted through both La Niña and El Niño episodes, suggesting additional climate drivers are important in addition to the commonly perceived El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Diagnostic analyses presented here suggest that, while the Pacific North American (PNA) and North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) do not directly cause drought in California, the relationships between them and with the upper air circulation pattern do modulate the spatial drought pattern. The positive PNA relative circulation leads drier northern California, and (-NPO) relative circulation …

Assessing The Risk Of Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Blue Carbon Ecosystems, Catherine E. Lovelock, Trisha Brooke Atwood, Jeff Baldock, Carlos M. Duarte, Sharyn Hickey, Paul S. Lavery, Pere Masque, Peter I. Macreadie, Aurora M. Ricart, Oscar Serrano, Andy Steven

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

“Blue carbon” ecosystems, which include tidal marshes, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows, have large stocks of organic carbon (C_org) in their soils. These carbon stocks are vulnerable to decomposition and – if degraded – can be released to the atmosphere in the form of CO₂. We present a framework to help assess the relative risk of CO₂ emissions from degraded soils, thereby supporting inclusion of soil C_org into blue carbon projects and establishing a means to prioritize management for their carbon values. Assessing the risk of CO₂ emissions after various kinds of disturbances …

The Optical Trapezoid Model: A Novel Approach To Remote Sensing Of Soil Moisture Applied To Sentinel-2 And Landsat-8 Observations, Morteza Sadeghi, Ebrahim Babaeian, Markus Tuller, Scott B. Jones

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The “trapezoid” or “triangle” model constitutes the most popular approach to remote sensing (RS) of surface soil moisture based on coupled thermal (i.e., land surface temperature) and optical RS observations. The model, hereinafter referred to as Thermal-Optical TRAapezoid Model (TOTRAM), is based on interpretation of the pixel distribution within the land surface temperature - vegetation index (LST-VI) space. TOTRAM suffers from two inherent limitations. It is not applicable to satellites that do not provide thermal data (e.g., Sentinel-2) and it requires parameterization for each individual observation date. To overcome these restrictions we propose a novel OPtical TRApezoid Model (OPTRAM), which …

Development And Testing Of Cool-Season Grass Species, Varieties And Hybrids For Biomass Feedstock Production In Western North America, Steven R. Larson, Calvin H. Pearson, Kevin B. Jensen, Thomas A. Jones, Ivan W. Mott, Matthew Darwin Robbins, Jack E. Staub, Blair L. Waldron

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Breeding of native cool-season grasses has the potential to improve forage production and expand the range of bioenergy feedstocks throughout western North America. Basin wildrye (Leymus cinereus) and creeping wildrye (Leymus triticoides) rank among the tallest and most rhizomatous grasses of this region, respectively. The objectives of this study were to develop interspecific creeping wildrye (CWR) × basin wildrye (BWR) hybrids and evaluate their biomass yield relative to tetraploid ‘Trailhead’, octoploid ‘Magnar’ and interploidy-hybrid ‘Continental’ BWR cultivars in comparison with other perennial grasses across diverse single-harvest dryland range sites and a two-harvest irrigated production system. Two …

Geologic Map Of The Lima Peaks 7.5' Quadrangle, Beaverhead County, Montana, Betty Skipp, William J. Perry Jr., Susanne U. Jänecke

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The Lima Peaks quadrangle is located in southwestern Beaverhead County in southwestern-most Montana, near the southern terminus of the Beaverhead Mountains (fig. 1). Rocks and deposits of Mississippian through Quaternary age are present along the eastern margin of the Cretaceous to early Tertiary Sevier fold-and-thrust belt. This area is structurally complex because rocks of older, Laramide Blacktail-Snowcrest uplift (Perry and others, 1988; Skipp, 1988; Lonn and others, 2006).

Revised Structure And Correlation Of The Great Salt Lake, North Promontory, Rozel And Hansel Valley Fault Zones Revealed By The 2015-2016 Low Stand Of Great Salt Lake, Susanne U. Jänecke, James P. Evans

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Years of drought conspired to produce the present historic low stand in Gunnison Bay of Great Salt Lake. The lake has receded enough to expose the Great Salt Lake fault zone, and reveal its geometry through the shallow and clear lake water. We mapped the newly visible escarpments along the fault zone, upgraded the Utah fault map, and revised the regional correlation of the Great Salt Lake, Rozel, and North Promontory fault zones. We explored the origin of wave-cut platforms in the footwall of the faults, and identify geometrically unique types of microbial communities along faults and fault-related springs and …

Greater Sage-Grouse Resource Selection Drives Reproductive Fitness Under A Conifer Removal Strategy, Charles P. Sandford, Michel T. Kohl, Terry A. Messmer, David K. Dahlgren, Avery Cook, Brian R. Wing

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The link between individual variation in resource selection (e.g., functional response) and fitness creates a foundation for understanding wildlife-habitat relationships. Although many anthropogenic activities adversely affect these relationships, it is largely unknown whether projects implemented to benefit wildlife populations actually achieve this outcome. For sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) obligate species such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse), expansion of juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon-pine (Pinus spp.; conifers) woodlands into sagebrush ecosystems has been identified as a conservation threat. This threat is intensified when a sagebrush ecosystem is bounded by naturally unsuitable habitats. As such, federal, state, …

Simple Soil Quality Tests And Organic Management Practices For Orchards In The Intermountain West, Esther Oline Thomsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Soil health is often overlooked as a long-term management strategy as growers face an increasing number of short-term management challenges in the Intermountain West. The costs of inputs are rising and water resources are becoming more limited. Soil with poor health typically requires more amendments and fertlizers to meet crop needs. Soil health tests can help reveal management practices that reduce soil health, as well as those that improve soil health. Practices known to improve soil health are reduced to no tillage, cover crop use- especially legumes, and addition of mulch and other organic materials. Soil health testing is not …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The aims of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and permittable option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services …